Chunky Rice

cambridge punting

punting03

Presently punting in Cambridge, UK with Sierra, the first leg of post-DUMPLINS vacation. But the big news in my world is that we’re MOVING to LA, packing up almost two decades of living in Portland, Oregon. The process is GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE all over again. That book was drawn when I was 21 and first moved to Portland from Milwaukee, Wisconsin; emotionally devastated from missing my friends. Now I’m nearly forty, but feeling the same. Big love to my Portland posse, and to my extended community of friends & readers around the world.

(Also see, bamboo rafting in China.)

craigcambridge punting
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chunky shark cycle

Friends of my brother, GROW ANTHOLOGY, make sweet skateboards out of recycled paper, and they’ve launched a KICKSTARTER campaign to produce their first run of artist-edition boards – THE CHUNKY SHARK CYCLE! It’s limited to only 250 boards…  Chunky and Dandel graphic laser-etched into the top of the deck… made sustainably from recycled paper from a paper mill in my home town! They’re a flexy-fluid longboard ride or an object of art for display. Please, do check in to support the Chunky Shark Cycle Kickstarter and get stickers, t-shirts, decks, complete boards, or purchase my original art. Exciting to merge the two passions of my youth – comics and skateboarding!

(PS: Start following progress on the new book at: <http://instagram.com/spacedumplins> )

 
craigchunky shark cycle
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home-back

Finally recovering from promotional travel. A token of carrying home on one’s back is this handmade Chunky Rice plush from Raquel & Ferran in Barcelona. Thanks, you two! And to Jordi & the other dedicated Spanish fans that made it out. Accompanying Chunky is a classic casualty of travel – the drowned sketchbook – reminding me of the age-old lesson to sketch in archival ink. Appropriately, most of the drawings are of airplane interiors that literally bled together after so many flights.

Along the way, I meet so many amazing people – too many to acknowledge in this small space – but foremost you readers! Seen here is my Spanish/Catalan editor Laureano & a new fave cartoonist David Rubin. Also, the charming Elvis Mitchell – an incredible interviewer that sets one at ease & draws out an honest conversation.

Some of you may recognize Laureano from my 2004 travelogue CARNET DE VOYAGE. Below, the view a block and a half from Laureano’s apartment. On the right is a snippet from my 2004 sketchbooks that never made it into print. But it’s another good reminder…

 

craighome-back
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thank you chunks

Cleaning out the drawing studio in preparation for book tour, I excavated copies of thank you cards drawn for four cartoonists who endorsed
the first edition of GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE way back in 1999. Can you identify those authors and/or scenes mashed up from their own work?

craigthank you chunks
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progress

While you’re all being patient for the HABIBI release, here’s some progress updates on slightly smaller projects.
The trifold poster is being colored by the Eisner award-winning Dave Stewart! He’s also coloring the Kazim collaboration for CBLDF.
(For TRICKSTER at ComicCon, we’re planning a B&W screenprint version.) And the BOLSTER mural is not yet finished, but getting close.
Here’s the scaffolding chaos from a couple of weeks ago…

Also, we had a first contest of sorts on the facebook page. Of course, it’s impossible to choose from so many moving stories from you readers.
Thanks for being in touch. More soon!

craigprogress
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tri-fold

Happy summer, Blog-friends! My publisher has set up a Facebook page for me. I’m not directly posting there, but I can check in daily on your
generous comments. They’ll be up-to-the-moment news and a few contests and giveaways. Perhaps I’ll dabble in personal posts, but I don’t
want to neglect the DOOTDOOTGARDEN blog any more than I already do. The garden needs weeding, watering, and few more flowers planted.

At the drawing table, I’m juggling a handful of projects. Including:
a.) A collaboration with poet Kazim Ali for the CBLDF‘s Liberty Annual.
b.) Edward Lear’s “The Owl and the Pussycat” in comics form for the upcoming NURSERY RHYME COMICS from First Second Books (October 2011).
c.) And a tri-fold poster for San Diego Comic Con. (Chunky, Blankets, and Habibi merge)

Thanks to all of you for your patience. The HABIBI tour will be here sooner than later.
And an update for fans in the Philippines: It looks like I’ll make it to Manilla early next year. See you all soon!

craigtri-fold
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clunkerz

Thank you, readers, for sticking with my bimonthly updates. Today’s theme is sloppy collage!

Sorting through my flat files for contributions to the upcoming NeoIntegrity Show at MoCCA – NYC,
I excavated these random CHUNKY RICE related scraps.
1) The “clunk” spliced off the last page of original art, slathered with “brush test” doodles.
2) The French translation key from the first ever appearance of CHUNKY.
3) Crumpled vellum-overlay pencils for the 3rd through 5th editions’ cover art.
4) The super-limited edition CHUNKY RICE necklace made by my friends at Studio Acorn. (Less than a dozen in circulation)

craigclunkerz
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chunky ten years ago

Work on HABIBI is progressing, but recent pages feel like spoilers, so it seemed like a nice time to reflect on my first book
~ GOOD-BYE, CHUNKY RICE. Below is a page I drew a decade ago — on December 9th, 1998 to be exact.

(The page preceding it was drawn November 20th, but I liked this one more. To account for the three weeks between pages,
I’d been working on graphic design work for Top Shelf, a collaborative pitch with Phil Amara, gag cartoons and a monthly comic strip
proposal for NICKELODEON magazine.) Anyways, here’s the ballpoint pen thumbnails for pages 104 and 86.

And here’s a photo of me taken approximately the same time — my first trip to the Oregon coast. Look, I was just a boy (23 years old)!
with a bad haircut! Sandwiched between covers of the first printing and current printing of CHUNKY – now available from Pantheon Books.

craigchunky ten years ago
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